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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2000, p. 2192-2198, Vol. 66, No. 5
Dairy Products Research Centre, Moorepark,
Fermoy,1 and Department of
Microbiology, University College, Cork,2
County Cork, Ireland
Received 27 August 1999/Accepted 17 January 2000
The ability of lactococcal strains to lyse (and release
intracellular enzymes) during cheese manufacture can be a very
desirable trait and has been associated with improvement in flavor and
acceleration of cheese ripening. Using a laboratory-scale cheese
manufacturing assay, the autolytic behavior of 31 strains of
Lactococcus lactis was assessed. In general, marked
variation was observed between strains with a 20-fold difference
between the best and worst lysing strains based on the release of the
intracellular enzyme lactate dehydrogenase. In a parallel experiment,
the genomes of these strains were examined for the presence of prophage
integrase (int) sequences by using conserved primer
sequences from known lysogenic phage. Results demonstrated that the
lytic behavior of lactococcal starter strains significantly correlates
with the presence of prophage sequences. These results highlight not
only the contribution of prophage to starter cell lysis but also the
potential of PCR as a useful initial screen to assess strains for this
important industrial trait.
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Investigation of the Relationship between Lysogeny
and Lysis of Lactococcus lactis in Cheese Using
Prophage-Targeted PCR
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dairy Products
Research Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland. Phone: 353-25-42229. Fax: 353-25-42340. E-mail:
pross{at}moorepark.teagasc.ie.
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